London Film Festival 2010: Leap Year (Ano Bisiesto)
Rowe's sympathetic and intelligent portrayal of a sadomasochistic relationship is both shocking and tender, its frankness captivating.
Opens in the UK 26th November.
Australian writer and director Michael Rowe now resides in Mexico, in whose city Oaxaca his tremendous debut feature is set.
A minimalist character study, it grips despite its slow beginning, thanks to the exsquisitely detailed depiction of a lonely and troubled life. The quiet film is confined to the city apartment that is home to Laura, a freelance business journalist who works in her dining room, and lives vicariously through her neighbours, when she isn't heading to bars to meet men.
Monica del Carmen gives one of the most astonishingly natural, raw and open performances of the year as the young woman who regularly seeks out anonymous sexual encounters. Rowe directs these scenes as realistically as possible, warts and all, which is essential in showing us the callously real aftermath of the empty nights. Carmen doesn't seek pity in the viewer as she watches the men get up and leave, her acceptance devastatingly real. Laura is a fascinating character to get to know, as we glean information from one-sided phone calls to her elderly mother and relatives. We know she loved and lost her father four years ago, with a beaming framed photo placed beside the bed. Then, as we see the days of February marked off the calendar, one particular one night stand becomes the catalyst for a torrent of emotional truth.
Gustavo Sánchez Parra plays the sexual sadist Arturo with an empathy and control that is essential for Leap Year to work as, ultimately, a romance. There's none of the gloss and glamour of the likes of Secretary on display here, as Arturo tests Laura's limits on their first night. Rowe's sympathetic and intelligent portrayal of a sadomasochistic relationship is both shocking and tender, its frankness captivating. Ultimately, Arturo notices the giant red cross that marks the leap year on Laura's calendar, which leads to one of the pair pushing the boundaries of their agreement in a most surprising way.
Haunting and unforgettable, Leap Year is a marvel of unique and confident filmmaking by cast and director.
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